Remember Apple Blossom 

Curator: Immediately striking, isn't it? There’s a palpable sense of romance and perhaps even a little wistful nostalgia about it. Editor: Definitely. Looking at Edwin Georgi's painting, seemingly titled "Remember Apple Blossom", it's impossible not to consider the immense changes to gouache paint formulation, not to mention the fabric printing industry. How available and widely distributed these materials have become versus earlier periods completely alters the scale and perception of accessibility of the depicted middle class imagery. Curator: It's an evocative work. It features a young couple strolling through what appears to be an apple orchard bathed in moonlight. Her floral dress and the blooming trees certainly suggest spring. He has draped his coat over her shoulders in a gentlemanly fashion, a tender moment. The whole scene feels very staged, very idealized. Editor: "Idealized" is a key term, especially considering Georgi’s roots in commercial illustration. This is a very deliberately crafted fantasy of romance, a vision likely peddled through magazine covers and advertisements. Considering mass-market expectations versus elite notions of painterly 'virtuosity', what are the class and social connotations implied by each set of evaluative criteria? Curator: That brings up an interesting point. It looks, on the surface, to be very classically "Romantic" in its aesthetic approach. How much of this romanticism has a cynical underbelly if it's constructed to make consumers more receptive to products being sold? In particular, what can be said about a genre that's been accused of sentimentalism being a way of exploiting people’s desires for love? Editor: Well, exploitation might be a harsh word, though certainly image and art play vital functions in commerce. More important, however, might be consideration of how it changed the field of painting overall, giving increased visibility to gouache paints due to its reproduction ability. Did this create opportunities, maybe even alter labor agreements for other gouache users? Did Georgi teach or take on any apprentices? Curator: Thinking of those apprentices, the piece raises significant questions about the romanticization of bygone eras, specifically focusing on idealized depictions of heterosexual relationships. In what ways do such artworks bolster specific socio-political narratives, maybe by influencing how viewers engage with the narrative over multiple decades through a consumeristic society? Editor: I agree, absolutely fertile ground for discourse when recontextualizing a genre so dependent on material fabrication and wide distribution. Curator: So, ultimately it seems "Remember Apple Blossom" leaves us contemplating love, art, social values, and their intertwined histories, and their relation to consumerism, and how to deal with such commercial relationships today. Editor: And what a potent lens through which to observe gouache as a critical art medium and its fascinating historical impact.